Lane Bryant shooter sketch is released

TINLEY PARK, Ill. (AP) -- Officials of the Lane Bryant clothing chain said they are uncertain when the store in suburban Tinley Park will reopen following this month's shooting that left five women dead, including Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend. Tinley Park police have released a composite drawing of the gunman based on a description from the survivor, a female store employee. He is described as a black man, between 5 feet 9 and 6 feet tall and between 200 to 230 pounds with thick braided hair and a receding hairline. Meanwhile, Tinley Park village officials are concerned about store security and are considering whether to require surveillance cameras in all commercial businesses in the southwest Chicago suburb. Such an ordinance, which would require business to buy cameras and have them installed in stores, could be among the nation's strictest. "The first responsibility of government at every level is the security of its citizens," said village trustee Patrick Rea. "At the local level, it's no less first on the list of responsibilities." The women's clothing store where the Feb. 2 shooting took place did not have security cameras. The gunman remained at large Monday. Gayle Coolick, a spokeswoman for Charming Shoppes Inc., which owns Lane Bryant, declined to say if store officials have considered additional security measures in the wake of the attack. Coolick said it was "a little bit too soon" to discussing when the store will open. Experts in security and crisis communication said Lane Bryant, a chain which specializes in plus-size women's clothes, has many hurdles ahead. At the top of the list is reassuring customers that the Tinley Park location is safe for shoppers. Customers might avoid the store because they're scared, said Jim Hagen, a professor who teaches disaster preparedness management at Chicago-based Saint Xavier University. "After this type of situation, there will be issues about customers coming back," Hagen said. "It's going to be too fresh for a time." Eileen Murphy, 45, of suburban Orland Park, shopped at the Target store in Brookside Marketplace across a parking lot from the Lane Bryant store where the shootings took place. She said the attacks have affected her. "I don't shop at night anymore," she said. "I just feel too vulnerable." Store officials where similar incidents have taken place said the key is to consider sensitivity to the community and reassure customers while keeping business considerations, such as loss of revenue, in mind. After a gunman fatally shot eight people and then killed himself at a Von Maur store at a mall in Omaha, Neb. in December, store officials reopened 15 days after the slayings. "There is no blueprint for this, for how to respond to an unspeakable tragedy like loss of life," said Von Maur spokeswoman Megan Hakes. "We let our employees guide us as to when the right time was to reopen the store," she said. Authorities have said the Tinley Park attack was a botched robbery. Divers have searched frozen ponds and waterways and police have scoured interstates and highways for any potential evidence. Killed along with Bishop in the shootings were store manager Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet, Ill.; Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort, Ill.; Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor, Ill.; and Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest, Ill.